GENEVA, December 1. /TASS/. The German economy is experiencing serious difficulties due to its refusal to cooperate with Russia, German economist and former president of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research in Munich, Professor Hans-Werner Sinn said in an interview with the Swiss magazine Die Weltwoche.
"The Russians have raw materials, and we need them for the processing industry. Because this model [of economic cooperation with Russia] has now been destroyed by the war in Ukraine, we, Germans, are suffering greatly," he said in an interview.
According to the expert, the German economy is also suffering because the authorities "unilaterally tried to implement climate policy to save the world."
Sinn believes this strategy is not working, since "other [countries] are doing exactly the opposite." He explained that while Germany and the EU are abandoning coal and oil, other countries are starting to buy these fuels cheaply, undermining all efforts to protect the environment.
"And why shouldn't they do this if we make it so profitable for them?" the economist notes.
In recent years, Germany has been experiencing a protracted economic crisis. It was initially caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, then worsened after the shutdown of Russian gas supplies. Members of the government's expert council for economic development have revised downward their forecast for German economic growth for 2025. The country faces a third consecutive year of recession.